Balloon.



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11 BALLOON.l

' AFPUCATION FILED 92111121.1915.

B51161110@ Apr. 29,1919.

4 SHEETS-s115511.

E. R. CALTHHOP.

BALLOON.

APPMCATION FILED sEPLzx. |915.

,302,@07 Patented Apr. 29,1919.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

EVERARD'RICHARD CALTHROP, 0F LONDON, ENGLAND.

zj v BALLoon.

renacer.

Application filed September 21, 1915.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, EvnRAuD RICHARD CAL- 'rHRo1 a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at London, in the county of Middlesex, England, have invented new and useful Improvements Relating to-Balloons, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has reference to balloons and is particularly applicable to captive balloons such as are employed for military signaling reconnaissance or observation purposes.

'The chief difiiculties experienced in the use of captive balloons as commonly employed arises from'the tendency of the balloon or its cable to spin while even a inoderate gale of wind renders them useless for all practical purposes for the reason that the balloon and its car is liable to assume such an inclination that apart from the imminent danger of the aeronaut being precipitated from the car the constant spinning and swaying of the balloonprevents or is very detrimental to accurate observations being taken. j

To obviate this defect various expediente have been suggested with the object of in` suring that the car of the balloon shall hang vertically when due to the pressure of the wind the gas bag assumes an angular posh tion but so far as l am aware these suggested arrangements have been either too complicated or cumbersome to admit of their employment in actual practice or have been of a wholly impracticable nature.

A. system of cordage attached to the holding cable, the balloon and the car has also been adopted in order to maintain the gas bag and the carV in a vertical position but such an arrangement has developed a further difficulty namely that of kiting of the balloon which is a source of great inconvenience to the aeronaut.

Now the primary object of my present invention is to provide improvements in balloons of the above mentioned type whereby the aforementioned disadvantages may be overcome to the end of obtaining a simple and reliable construction which shall insure that no matter what position the gas bag may assume the car shall always be maintained in-a vertical position.

A further object is to provide means whereby any spinning motion of the balloon or the holding cable shall be prevented from being communicated to the; car.y

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 2li, Mbit).

Serial No. 51,873.

A further object of my invention is to provide means whereby the point at which the pull of the holding cable is exerted may be readily altered or adjusted by the occupant of the ear to meet the varying stresses ot air current likely to be encountered during an ascent.

An important advantage resulting from my improved arrangement is that the aforo mentioned liting action is absolutely prevented.

With these ends in view my invention in its broadest aspect may be said to be embodied in a construction in which the car is connected to the balloon by a universal suspension means being also provided whereby the pull of the holding cable may be exerted at a point between the balloon and the car.

The hereinbeifore mentioned objects and such others as may be incidental thereto are attained by the means which l will now proceed to describe in detail for the ready comprehension of which reference should be had to the accompanying drawings n which:

Figure 1 represents,a'perspective view of one 'formcof my invention.. Y

Fig. 2 is alsectional view of a ball thrust Iand'journal bearingpositioned between the balloon andthe car and hereinafter more particularly referred to.

'Fig-.T3 is Va perspective view of a inodiiied arrangement and Y Fig. 4 illustrates a further modiication.

Fig. 5 is a sectional View of a universal joint which may be employed in connection with my improved arrangement andV Fig. 6 is a detail view hereinafter more particularly described.

ln that embodiment of the invention illustrated in Fig. 1 the suspension cords l of the balloon are attached t0 the usual hoop 2 which latter is connected by the stays 3 with a rotatable anti-friction bearing l forming part of a universal suspension of which the pivotal joint 5 also forms a member. Said joint 5 is attached to a bar or yoke piece G from which the car 7 is suspended such as by cords or the like 8. Such a-suspensory arrangement forms a universal joint between the hoop of the balloon and the car as the cords 8 are passed loosely around the bar 6 so that the car may swing thereon and it should here be remarked that the term universal joint employed throughout this specii'ication and the claiming clauses is intended to deiine an arrangement of parte which will permit of rotary as well as angular motion in contradistinction to what is popularly known as a universal joint which usually permits only of angular motion in two planes situated at right angles to each other.

Loosely attached to each end of the bar 6 are cords or the like9 the opposite ends of which are loosely attachedgto a second bar or yoke piece 10 to which the holding cable l1 is secured by means of the ball swivel connection 12 whereby any twisting of the cable 11 will be prevented from being communicated tothe car and balloon.

The construction of the rotatable bearing 4 will be seen from an inspection of Fig. 2. It comprises a spindle 13 which is preferably tubular to accommodate the passage of the cord or cords 14 for operating the valve or valves of 'the balloon. The spindle 13 is positively connected at its lower end to the aforesaid joint 5 and is surrounded 'by a sleeve 4 rotatably mountedthereon by means of the ball bearings 15,` 16 and 17. Sockets 18 are'provided uponthe sleeve 14 whereby' the ends of the sta-ys 3 are secured thereto.

By means of the A arrangement hereinbefore described any spinning` motion-of the `balloon will be taken up 'by the rotatable bearing 4 while the universal suspension hereinbefore described will allow 'ofthe gas bag being deflected to any Vangle without affecting the vertical position of the car 7 as the pull 'of theholding cable is exerted in line with the universal joint andthe car will therefore swingbetween the'bars'GYand 10 andftheir eonnectinglcords).

It may in some cases be desirable that the point at which'the resultantforces of the inflated balloon and theipull on the 'holding cable act should becapabl'e of adjustment in order to counteract any unevendistribution of weight in the car or 'to prevent abnormal swinging or rocking thereofand to thisend the arrangement illustrated in Fig. 3 or Fig. 4 may befadopted.

In Fig. 3'theuniversal joint V5is attached to the member 19 in the ends o'f which .the bars or yoke pieces 6 `are 'journaled The inner end of each of'sad bars 6 carries a toothed wheel meshing with a worm 20 adapted to berotate'dby thelhantlle 21 while theopposite end of each of saidfbarsis provided witha lever 22 to 'which the cords 9 connected tothe 'lower bar 1() arerespectively attached. 'Such a lconstruction enables the occupant 'of 'the car to raise or lower the position of the point atwhich the pull ofthe holding 'cable is 'exertedfby'operating the handles 21 thereby rotating the bars 6 'and the levers 22.

In the arrangement illustrated in Figs. 1

and 3 kit will be seen thatthe bar-`or yoke 4610r 6 forms part of what maybetermed the balloon 'framelbut as an alternative ar- 'rangement the bar-6 may'fornr part of the `the reception of the balls '31. 30 another Aring 32 is bolted said ring servshown.

car frame. Such a construction is illustrated in Fig. 4 wherein the bar 6 is journaled in bearings 23 supported in brackets 24 rigidly attached to the hoop 25 of the car. One or both of said brackets 24 is provided with a worm 20 engaging a toothed wheel 26 keyed to the bar- 6 whereby this latter :and with it the levers 22 may be rotated in the manner described with reference to Fig. 3 and for a like purpose.

Thel universal joint hereinafter referred to is shown more or less diagrammatically as any appropriate kind may be used but in Fig. 5 I have illustrated a joint which may `be advantageously employed in connection with my invention in place of the joint 5 and rotatable anti-friction bearing 4 above described.

In this arrangement the hollow spindle 13 is connected to the bar 6 such as-by the stays 27 and carries at its upper end a hemispherical cup 28 which is embraced by the rings 29 and 30 fin which ball races lare formed for To the ring ing forthe attachment of the stays-33 which are connected to hoop 201 the balloon. .The

spindle 13 `may be .provided with a buffer 34 of rubber or other resilient material against which Athe ring 32 may abut when `said ring reaches its limit of angularity as .but also Ytakes up the `thrust that may be exerted by the balloon ythrough the ring 32 onto the ballfbearings 31. 1

It is of course desirable thatlthe connection between the balloon and the yoke piece or bar 61 should possess maximum strength with a minimum weight consistent with :safety and my invention therefore contemplates the arrangement illustrated in Fig. 6 wherein I have shown the rotatable bea-ring 4as being providedfwith angularly disposed annular flanges-36 and 37. A cone 33Y preferablyfof-a light metal such Vas duraiumin is bolted to ythe `flange 436 the cordage 1 of the balloon being attached Vthereon as A second preferably'metal cone 39 is bolted or otherwise secured to the flange 37 of the member 4 and to the cone 38. By this means alight and rigid structure is formedpo'ssessinggreat strength and lightsDESS.

`ing apparatus. Y

While I have described in the foregoing specification the preferred construction of parts and the ope lation thereof it is to be understood that numerous changes of construction may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention and I therefore do not wish to be understood as limiting myself by the positive terms employed in connection with the description excepting such as the state of the art may require.

What claim is:

l. The combination with a captive balloon and a car therefor of a universal suspension member between said balloon and car a bar rotatably associated with said universel suspension member arms at each end of said bar, a bar normally positioned beneath said car, a holding cable rotatably secured to said bar means for connecting said last mentioned bar with the arms carried by the first mentioned bar and means for rotating said bar.

2. The combination with a captive balloon and a car therefor, a universal suspension member between said balloon and car, a rotatable antifriction thrust and ournal bear ing associated with said universal suspension member', upper and lower" bars or yoke pieces, means for connecting said bars or yoke pieces, and a holding cable rotatably attached to the lower of said bars.

3. The combination with a captive balloon and a car therefor, a universal suspension' member between said balloon and car7 a rotatable antifriction thrust and journal bearing associated with said universal suspension member, upper and Vlower bars or yoke pieces, arms carried by the upper bar or yoke piece, means for connecting said arms with the lower bar or yoke piece, means for rotating said upper bar, and a holding cable rotatably attached to said lower bar or yoke piece.

4. rlhe combination with a captive balloon and a car thereior of a rotatable antifriction thrust and journal bearing, a conical member secured to the upper part of said bearing, a second conical member secured to the lower part of said bearing and to the rst mentioned cone and adapted for engagement with the rigging of the balloon, a bar or yoke piece associated with said bearing by means of a universal joint, and means for attaching a holding cable to said bar or yoke piece.

Dated this 6th day of September, 1915.

EVERARD RICHARD CALTHROP.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ive cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

